Sociology 266 Assignment
Week 11 Readings
Due on Tuesday 11/08/11
This week’s readings are a bit longer than usual, but the articles are clearly written and
accessible. The Rank article is an important reading and I can pretty much
GUARANTEE that the exam will have a MANDATORY essay question based on it. I
suggest that you read it carefully. Avoid skimming, or using the find function to search
for words from my questions. As always, do your best to answer the questions in your
own words. DO NOT SIMPLY transcribe text from the article to your page. If you quote
the text, be sure do use quotation marks and to provide a proper citation. It should look
like this: On page 1, Eimer begins his argument by noting that “many people tell him
they regret that they did not do the assigned readings when they were in college since
they seldom have time to read” (Eimer 2006: 2). There are 8 questions.
1. Rank suggests Americans need to rethink the way they think about poverty. He notes
that the “old paradigm” views poverty as the “result of individual failure” (Rank 2006:
20). Briefly compare and contrast the “conservative” and “liberal” version of this
paradigm. Please use the concepts of cultural capital and human capital in your answer.
This may require you to flip back through your notes.
2. Rank offers a “new paradigm” for understanding of poverty as a result of “structural
failings.” Please summarize this paradigm, being sure to comment on the issue of jobs
and the social safety net.
3. Please interpret this statement from soc-speak into normal English: “…lack of human
capital and other marketable characteristics helps to explain who is at a heightened risk of
poverty, the fact that poverty exists in the first place results not from these characteristics,
but from the lack of decent opportunities and supports in society.”
4. Research suggests that poverty is a conditional state. What does that mean? Be sure to
provide a cite from the text that provides evidence for the suggestion that poverty is a
conditional state.
5. Please provide answers to the following questions from the Business Week article “Working
and Poor” and the accompanying table. There is no need to write lengthy answers. Simply
answer with a few words or the relevant number.
a. What percentage of the workforce between the ages of 18 and 64 earns less than $9.04 an
hour, the wage needed to reach the poverty level for a family of 4?
b. What percent of US families below the poverty level had one or more workers?
c. What happened to the share of the workforce earning sub-poverty wages when
unemployment dropped to 4% in the late 1990s?
d. How many of the 10 fastest occupations are of the “menial, dead end variety”?
e. What percent of students from bottom earning families graduate from college?
f. The majority of the gains of minimum wage boost would flow to what type of person?
g. Unionized blue collar workers make how much more than non-unionized blue collar
workers?
h. What percent of the working poor vote?
i. What is the average hourly wage paid by Walmart?
J Walmart’s wage is what percent of the union wage paid by unionized grocery stores?
k. What percent of Walmart employees do not receive health care?
6. Elijah Anderson’s article “The Code of the Streets” was turned into a book that is
considered to be a landmark study. Describe what is meant by the term “code of the
streets,” being sure to provide concrete examples of this code.
7. Anderson suggests that the “code of the streets is actually a cultural adaptation to a
profound lack of faith in the police and the judicial system.” What does he mean by this
statement?
8. What is meant by the terms “decent” and “street?” In what ways does Anderson argue
that the code forces even “decent” kids to learn to live by the code?